Police seek robbery attempt suspect

Lincolnton Police are looking for a man who tried to rob a local business Wednesday night.
The man is also believed to be a suspect in several previous armed robberies.
At 11:52 p.m. Wednesday, an employee reported an attempted robbery at Family Coin Laundry at 130 Vandiver Drive.
The laundry closes at midnight, but employees lock the doors around 11:30 p.m. The doors were locked when a man knocked on the glass and told the female employee he wanted to buy a phone card, said Detective Sgt. Matt Painter with the Lincolnton Police Department.
She let him in, and while she was talking to him, the man turned around, opened the door and let another man inside.
The man was wearing a bandanna over his face and had the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head. He was brandishing a silver handgun.
The man told the employee that he wanted $20 and $100 dollar bills. The employee told him she had already deposited the money into the safe and didnâ€™t have access to it. She offered him change, and he refused it.
The man left on foot toward North Aspen Street.
Itâ€™s unclear when the first man who entered the store left.
â€œHe kind of slips out and disappears,â€ Painter said.
Police donâ€™t know if the man was working with the robber or if he let him in because he was scared, Painter said.
Police believe the gunman could also be connected to several other robberies in the area.
â€œIt matches the description of the other three robberies weâ€™ve had in northeast Lincolnton in the past 10 months,â€ Painter said. One of those robberies happened at Family Coin Laundry.
In those cases, a man with the same physical description and brandishing a silver handgun demanded money from employees.
The suspect in Wednesdayâ€™s attempted robbery is described as a black male with a medium complexion, standing 5-foot-seven-inches to 6-feet tall, weighing 160 to 180 pounds and having an average to athletic build. He is believed to be in his 20s.
The employee said the man who asked for the phone card was a light-skinned black male.
Anyone with information on this crime should contact Painter at the LPD at 704-736-8900.
by Alice Smith